Proposition One just doesn't deliver

We oppose Proposition One. It’s not that we don’t believe property tax reform isn’t needed. It is. Desperately.

The problem is that Prop One doesn’t deliver what’s really needed.

The package includes doubling the $25,000 homestead exemption, portability for Save Our Homes and caps on assessment increases for commercial property and second homes.

It does nothing, however, to resolve the extreme inequity in the current tax system.

Like value properties should be taxed alike. Under the current system, that doesn’t happen.

 It’s one thing to give residents a homestead exemption while not extending that break to nonresidents and second homes. There is at least some rationale to the system.

But under Save Our Homes, it’s not so much how much a property is worth that determines how it will be taxed as much as it is when the property was bought. Properties with identical values can have vastly different tax bills if the owner of one bought say 10 years ago and the other bought during the peak of the housing boom.

That’s simply wrong, and Prop One doesn’t do anything to change that.

There are other arguments against the amendment as well: The 10 percent cap on assessment increases does little for commercial property owners who already have been taxed to max because of Save Our Homes.

There will be a decline in local revenue for schools. Legislative leaders and Gov. Charlie Crist to their credit say they will use state money to make up the difference. But there’s no guarantee that will happen.

Local governments likely will be forced to cut back on services to cover the short fall on revenue.

All of this makes Prop One a bad deal all the way around. Vote no and force the state to come up with real property tax reform.